My Rockfest weekend started with a winding drive through the mountains of Washington very late at night. Beautiful drive, and at long last I landed in the Bavarian village of Leavenworth. It would seem that, some time back, the town needed some sort of 'catch' by which to draw tourists, so they decided to make the entire town Bavarian themed. And let me tell you, they left no stone unturned. Every building, every sign, every restaurant has been themed to suit. (It's not hard to find a good bratwurst in this town.) It's very cute, if a bit odd.

I had the pleasure of staying in the Innsbruck Inn, which has each room themed according to a famous author, seeing as how the inn is above a book store. My room was the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Sherlock Holmes room, complete with umbrella collection and ancient typewriter. I glanced through the guest registry of my room, and boy do people get into the whole theme thing! My favorite entry was, "Sherlock plugged our toilet and we had to move to the Secret Garden room!"

Anyway, this blog is not about themed villages and Sherlock rooms, it's about the Rockfest. The event began with a day of clinics. I didn't get to climb too much, but the rock looks impeccable, if a bit low angle. It was hot in the sun, but beautiful in the shade, and luckily there was lots of that to be had. The river was just across the road and the mountains provided a stunning backdrop. Clinics ranged from 'how to escape a belay' to 'gear placement' to 'bouldering techniques.' Participants demo'd gear and climbed and seemed to have a great time. Later in the evening everyone retired to the evening for beer and barbeque. There were half a dozen vendors, and let me tell you, the biggest and best raffle I have ever seen (especially for an event of this size)! The kids enjoyed running around barefoot, dancing to the DJ and burying themselves in as much dirt as humanly possible while the adults reveled in their new schwag and free food/drink.

Finally, it was time for my slideshow. Now, you'd think that after doing this, I don't know, five MILLION times, I'd have it dialed. But no. I got a new Macbook a while ago, and apparently the attachment to convert to a pc plug-in for a digital projector has been changed. Panic (on my part) ensued. If I couldn't show videos and the like, that meant I was going to have to talk! Oh, the horror! Thanks heavens for Eddie Whitemore (for his laptop) and Andy (for his computer genious) we managed to get almost everything transferred over to a pc via a jump drive (with the exception of one video) while the crowd waiting patiently. The slideshow went better than it could have, that is for sure, but alas, it wasn't perfect. Hopefully anyone who cared was too drunk to notice. :)

Anyway, the next morning I flew back home while Rockfesters spent a day bouldering. And here I am.

Oh, and if you ever want a good "last night I was sitting in this bar..." joke, stop by Feathered Friends in Seattle and ask for Eddie Espinosa.